Deathball is a sport not intended for the weak-hearted, as you may have deciphered from it's blunt name. The objective is simple; take possession of the ball and score a touchdown. To score a touchdown, a player must carry the ball across the opposition's goal line. Once the ball crosses the plane of the goal line while it is in a player's possession, it is scored a touchdown.

The amount of rules are dangerously limited. It is a full contact sport that permits the use of magic and machinery by players in order to achieve victory at all costs. The rules that are in place is as follows:

1. Intentional murder is forbidden, despite the name of the sport. Players engage in combat to carve a path to the goal line for their team, not to kill the opposition. The death of a player will be investigated by the authorative body of the Inter-Kingdom Deathball League in order to determine whether the death was accidental or intentional, and will punish the offender accordingly.

2. Players must not attack spectators, and vice versa. Any violence between players and spectators will be dealt with swiftly by security - such an incident will be investigated by the authorative body of the Inter-Kingdom Deathball League in order to determine who is to blame, and will punish the offender(s) accordingly.

3. While the use of weaponry, magic and/or machinery is permitted in Deathball, there is an 'Overkill' clause in which an appeal can be made if it is thought that a team is using firepower to such a degree that it reduces that quality of the sport and/or endangers players, spectators & the surrounding environment. Such an appeal will be reviewed by and decided upon by the authorative body of the Inter-Kingdom Deathball League.

4. All forms of aviation is forbidden. If a player is caught using any form of aid to propell them into an airborne state, they will be immediately sent off the arena floor. Players are to fight their way through to the goal line, not fly overhead. Cowards.

***DISCLAIMER***: The authorative body of the Inter-Kingdom Deathball League holds the right to alter, add or remove rules without prior warning to participants.

A team is permitted to have a squad of up to 40 men, but only 10 can be fielded at any one time with 5 substitutions permitted each game. Usually, a team will field 2 healers, 2 sprinters, 2 protectors and 4 damage dealers at least at the start of the game - but this isn't mandatory, and is ultimately decided by the team Coach who will field his team in whatever way he see's fit.

HEALER POSITION: Self-explanatory. Lessen the severity of your team-mates wounds so that they may fight harder for longer. Healers usually stay out of the fray and support the protectors and damage dealers.

SPRINTER POSITION: The glory role, popular with speedy showboaters. While every position is expected to carry the ball forward, the Sprinter is the key position in doing so. They must be fast and agile to evade incoming projectiles and assailants while on the move. Focusing on ball possession and pointscoring, the Sprinter also tries to avoid prolonged & unnecessary combat. After all, a wounded Sprinter is a useless Sprinter.

PROTECTOR POSITION: The solid foundations on which a Deathball team is built upon. Strength and durability is a must, and size is also helpful. The Protecters shield their most vulnerable or important team-mates, and they must use their judgement to determine who that is at the time. The Healers rely on them to keep the opposition at a safe distance, as do the Sprinters rely on them to keep those that chase them at bay.

DAMAGE DEALER POSITION: The most numerous and bloody position on the field. Their task is simply to attack & occupy the opposition. Get past their Protectors, take out their Healers, and take out their Sprinters, all the while going head-to-head with the opposing Damage Dealers.

NEUTRAL:The Pandaria Pandemoniums. (During an 'Azeroth Allstar Superslam', the Tushui Cloudsingers and the Huojin Firepaws form a team from their best players to form the Pandaria Pandemoniums for that tournament only)

Inter-faction games are not allowed aside from during the 'Azeroth Allstar Superslam' in which all teams from both factions enter in a singular tournament to compete for being crowned Champions of Azeroth. An 'Azeroth Allstar Superslam' will only take place if politics permit at the time.

OOC:If it wasn't painfully obvious already, yes, this is inspired by the NFL. But as by now you hopefully realise, it's far from just that.

I'd appreciate all forms of feedback. Positive, negative and constructive!

I haven't figured out a way that this game could be RPed - but at this stage I'm not too concerned about that, I just want to get a feel for what the community thinks about this. If this idea is going to get shot down, I'd rather it be now as opposed to later when I've put more effort into it. Even if this idea is accepted, it may still never come to anyone RPing a character as a team-member, playing a game of Deathball.

This could be something that your existing characters can engage in! What sort of patriotic Dwarf wouldn't be a fan of the Ironforge Pistons!? & what's that? Some dirty Human is talking smack about how crap the Pistons played last night??? You'd best go beat the shit out of that Human! I mean, you lost 50 silver betting on that game, and the last thing you need right now is some 6ft tall fuck rubbing it in your bearded little face that your home team is shit and you're 50 silver down because of it! Go on, kill him for the honour of Ironforge!

That's just one example. Friendships can be made and lost over Deathball disputes, as well as money and teeth. I intend to post a League standings table, which I will update every X amount of days, so that RPers can refer to and see how their team is getting on - and in doing so have something to be happy, sad or angry about.

Still less dangerous than skateboarding. It looks great. I feel like Lana would be a huge fan of the sport, is there chance for a kids league? Because deathball mothers riding their kids to practise sounds hilarious in my head.

The time is almost upon us! As word spreads around Azeroth of the upcoming new sport, the Inter-Kingdom Deathball League prepares for the season ahead. Major Cities across the lands start to see League Standings and Fixtures appearing on notice boards!

Sharpen your swords. Polish your staves. Start your engines.

With the first set of games being scheduled for THIS evening, it's anyone's guess as to if the IKDL gets off to a roaring start or is a flop. Will many attend? Will many enjoy? Will many become hooked on the sport?

Regardless, as the sun sets tonight, the teams will be wanting to make good first impressions and secure a win. They'll be fresh and hungry for victory, so show some support for your home team! PRIDE. GLORY. VICTORY.

This isn't an event, this is just kickstarting the League ICly. Later on this evening I'll post the results of the 6 games (which will be decided using dice) as well as some 'match highlights' and the next set of fixtures. Refer back to it here to see how your team got on, and then include that into tonight's RP if you wish!

(I know the matches say they're being played at 1pm, but ignore that.)

If you think this idea is totally crap and you don't want your character to have anything to do with this, then feel free to ignore it. I'm just trying to add something new that people will hopefully enjoy!

Thundercats vs Cloudsingers: A mind-blowingly intense and close game! With both sides fighting furiously for posession from start to finish, the crowd were electric! Cloudsinger fans will go home disappointed that their team didn't get the win that they deserved just as much as their opponents. While the Thundercats will be purring all night as they celebrate their explosive start to the season!

Pistons vs Shortrounds:Pride was on the line for both teams as the Dwarves and Gnomes kicked off for their first Deathball Derby! Both teams put up a fight for victory, but ultimately it was the Dwarves who took the win. A large number of the Dwarves in attendance were dispersed with tear gas after the game, as they tried to drunkenly invade the pitch to celebrate with their team.

Leafers vs Executioners: A painful game to watch. Neither team were able to convert many of their chances, resulting in a low-scoring and tedious game with the Draenei just managing to steal with win.

Greenskins vs Shiners:The Shiners were plagued with injury from the word go, with all 5 of their substitutions being made in the first quarter due to serious injuries inflicted by the Orcs. Team Coach Hath'alas saved the Shiners from embarassment by tactically fielding 2 extra Protectors instead of Sprinters in order to increase his defence, but in the end still lost.

Stormbulls vs Firepaws:The Tauren were dominant throughout the game, seeming to outsmart and outclass the Pandaren in most plays. It's back to the drawing board for the Firepaws as they seemed downright unprepared to face the Stormbulls, and will want to make a comeback next game to restore faith to their fans.

Darkspears vs Terrors:A very enjoyable game, with both sides displaying skill and eagerness. The Darkspears held the lead for the most of the game, but in the final minutes of the game the Terrors made a terrifying comeback with 3 touchdowns, pushing them to victory and giving their fans something to rave about tonight.

That's all from us here at the IKDL tonight, stay tuned next week for another dose of Deathball, and the debut matches of both the Bilgewater Boomers and Gilneas Growlers!

Rend wrote:This could be something that your existing characters can engage in! What sort of patriotic Dwarf wouldn't be a fan of the Ironforge Pistons!? & what's that? Some dirty Human is talking smack about how crap the Pistons played last night??? You'd best go beat the shit out of that Human! I mean, you lost 50 silver betting on that game, and the last thing you need right now is some 6ft tall fuck rubbing it in your bearded little face that your home team is shit and you're 50 silver down because of it! Go on, kill him for the honour of Ironforge!

Bit underwhelming amount of things to be hyped about. A name and a short description of the game. Maybe if you play it out ingame sort of it might do more. Or some other things too, maybe try and get the artists to draw symbols for the teams or something.

But honestly not everyone is interested in being a huligan, so yeah "Need we say more?" you do for crowds who might enjoy more then only simple swearing and fighting that usually has nothing to do with the game itself anyway.

I believe it's unreasonable to assume this could be a world-wide event in the pre-globalised world of Azeroth. The necessary infrastructure isn't in place. Historically in the real world, the oldest recorded international sporting event was in 1844, and the first ever World Cup was in 1930.

Another issue is I feel half the races you list as involved would in fact have absolutely no interest in the sport whatsoever. Goblins already have a similar sport, I can see Orcs being interested, as well as Dwarves, and potentially Humans. Everyone else? Doubt they'd bat an eyelid.

This all goes without saying that for this to suddenly spring into being is rather obnoxious. Had you instead said you were starting the sport, and not insinuating that this has already taken the much-needed time to establish itself to the world (without any of us sharing in that knowledge), then it would be far more believable.

Adry

Posts : 593Join date : 2013-12-15Age : 21

Character sheetName: Lelitha ÉtoiresTitle: Pretend-Champion of the Band of the Brave

Imo, make it a Steamwheedle Cartel event and let the teams represent the various goblin settlements (Booty Bay Brawlers, Everlook Eradicators, Ratchet Rockets, so on) rather than make it horde/alliance oriented. This adds the benefit that it can be a well established sport already since the majority of our chars wouldn't have in depth contact with the goblin cartels. It's a cool idea for those who like that kind of RP, and goblins have already been shown to host ultra violent sports (http://www.wowwiki.com/Footbomb) so there's nothing wrong with it on that front. Goblin culture is DEFINITELY better suited for those things, though. You could also have smaller circuits in each settlement (so there's the Gadgetzan League, Everlook League, so on) and have the city teams competing for the big Steamwheedle Cartel Championships.

Rend wrote:This could be something that your existing characters can engage in! What sort of patriotic Dwarf wouldn't be a fan of the Ironforge Pistons!? & what's that? Some dirty Human is talking smack about how crap the Pistons played last night??? You'd best go beat the shit out of that Human! I mean, you lost 50 silver betting on that game, and the last thing you need right now is some 6ft tall fuck rubbing it in your bearded little face that your home team is shit and you're 50 silver down because of it! Go on, kill him for the honour of Ironforge!

Need we say more?

Alright, so this is purely a background thing, that characters cannot actually witness or participate in, but react to after it has happened?

I'm fine with that, but somehow from the original post I had the impression that the idea was to have a kind of sportleague that would be roleplayed. Not that their was only an oppurtunity to roleplay as only supporters. I'm just glad I got that cleared up. I wish you luck with this!

If you're discrediting the idea based on the fact that it's not plausible when compared to the real world, then good day to you.

Historically in the real world we don't have Magic, time travel, Sky Golems or any other intelligent life from Humans. I find it hard to believe that in a world where their Engineers can build Wormhole Generators, their society can't organise a sports League - at least not in my opinion, and we're all entitled to one of those.

With regards to the race & interest issues, I suppose you might have a point. But at the same time, if I'd excluded Gnomes etc. from the equation then I'd have had complaints regarding that too.

Obnoxious? Meow.

And Siegmund, I'm sad to hear that you're underwhelmed. As said in the OP, feel free to ignore this entire concept.

This concept was conceived purely as light-hearted fun. Something to add to your character, should you feel like it. Something to discuss/argue/laugh about ICly should you feel like it. If you don't feel like it then nobody's forcing it upon you, just move along and allow those that are fond of the concept to enjoy it. Jheez.

With regards to the race & interest issues, I suppose you might have a point. But at the same time, if I'd excluded Gnomes etc. from the equation then I'd have had complaints regarding that too.

Addressing this as it's the only relevant thing in your post.

As I said previously, moving the institution to a neutral, Steamwheedle funded one would solve this entirely. The teams would be privately funded by trade princes and other upper class goblin personalities, and would thus be made up of whatever the best players happened to be. This potentially includes all races, and solves the issue that the governments of the Horde and Alliance probably wouldn't be concerned with establishing teams for the sport.

When I briefly glanced this thread's title, I read it as: 'Superislam'.

I may have been spending too much time reading the news.

Anyhow, I don't really see why you should bud your nose into this if you don't plan on participating. It's like the OP said:

Rend. wrote:This concept was conceived purely as light-hearted fun. Something to add to your character, should you feel like it. Something to discuss/argue/laugh about ICly should you feel like it. If you don't feel like it then nobody's forcing it upon you, just move along and allow those that are fond of the concept to enjoy it.

I see this a little as that stock exchange a few folks had going on briefly. It gives a select amount of characters who wish to engage with this sort of thing something to talk about, while not necessarily influencing the role-play of those outside of that particular sphere. You were free to ignore the stock exchange entirely (something I readily did)

Thelos wrote:Anyhow, I don't really see why you should bud your nose into this if you don't plan on participating.

Come now Thelos, read the thread!

Anyway Rend thanks for the clarification; Enjoy the fantasy football league! its just that OP hinted at this being something more, like that the actual league was roleplayable (I.e in the trend of the rugby matches held in the past by actual guilds and players), not just being the supporters. Not that this matters, its just different but wasn't clear at the start.

Obviously, when first replying to a thread, one should only reply to the original post, without paying any attention to rectifications the poster could have made in later posts.

Thank you for enlightening me, Amaryl. Henceforth I will only be cherry-picking from the original post of a thread; and by cherry-picking I mean selecting the one thing I can be an obtuse dick about while ignoring everything else.

Yes, I am glad to have enlightened you, that when someone ask for criticism it is actually given.

Edit: I'm not saying we're only posting to fellate our selves, even though that's generally a big part of the RPDB forum experience, but to maybe make this idea better to the point where I can find it also fun to participate. You know the entire point of a discussion and debate. That's not to say we can't ignore it or Won't ignore it, but the attitude; just ignore it and let people that like it have fun, is rather nauseating. Its not like most people in here are: your idea sucks stop this, you're hurting the world and drowning children. You can try to have a discussion, like requested, and if at the end of it, the result is that the idea isn't your cup of tea then parting ways is perfectly fine.

Last edited by Amaryl on Thu Oct 02, 2014 2:55 am; edited 1 time in total